Devin Booker is making a leap forward in exciting and unexpected ways

The Phoenix Suns are off to a solid 2-1 start this season – and while unwanted rumors surrounding one of their stars are annoyingly persistent, they are undoubtedly in a better position now than they were a season ago. Head coach Mike Budenholzer can take some credit for this, as his rotations, game plan, and general vibe seem to fit the franchise much better than Frank Vogel.

The addition of Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro also helped bring more energy into the start of the regular season. Both are already miles ahead of the realistic development plan the Suns would have had for both, and fans are already clamoring for Dunn to start more games after he did just that in the recent win over the Dallas Mavericks.

It was a relatively quiet start to the season for the soon-to-be 28-year-old, in which he averaged 19.7 points per contest. His lowest output since his rookie season, although you can bet that number will continue to rise as the season progresses.

That's not even a bad thing, as Kevin Durant gives the Suns 30 points every night and the team wins games. Booker is evolving his “I'll do it” persona from the Olympics to also do a little more of whatever it takes to win. With Bradley Beal looking as good as ever in The Valley, Booker just won't be able to score en masse on some nights and he doesn't seem to care.

However, one interesting and brilliant addition he added to his game early on – which has already helped the entire group tremendously – is his newfound love and consistency with his 3-point shooting. Again, we know the sample size is small – but with output at an all-time high, it's still worth talking about.

So far this season, Booker has averaged a career-high 7.7 attempts from deep per game. Only in the previous two seasons did he reach or exceed the seven mark, and in both cases he achieved a hit rate of 38.3 percent on those attempts. In each of those seasons, Booker played in just 54 games (2017-18) and 68 games (2021-22).

Taking more shots than ever from deep while also shooting a fantastic 43.5 percent is exactly what Booker can do to thrive on this team. Coach Budenholzer already preached the need for more 3-point efforts on media day, and the team is already scoring just over 38 points per night, five points more than last season.

Durant himself recently said that the team could make “at least ten more 3-pointers” per game, and Booker has clearly taken that instruction into account. The best thing about this shot from the Suns' superstar is that the shots – in most cases up to this point – didn't feel forced and were very much in the flow of the game.

A key part of that is the introduction of point guard Tyus Jones, who has so far delivered everything he promised for the franchise and more. Aside from an ugly run when the team returned to isolation against the Los Angeles Lakers – before ultimately losing the game – the Suns have performed well on offense.

If Booker continues to be cool with letting Durant score most of the points – while also letting Beal go first when he goes out from time to time – then the Suns will be in a good position this season. For Booker, becoming truly elite from 3-point range appears to be the final piece of the puzzle, and if he combines that with his own big-scoring games, we'll see this team at its peak.